Picture Books (age 2+)

 

Oliver Jeffers – Lost and Found and The Heart and the Bottle

Lauren Child – Clarice Bean, That’s Me

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems

Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems

The Red Tree by Shaun Tan

Polly Dunbar – Penguin

Olivia by Ian Falconer

 Early Readers

 

Horrid Henry by Francesca Simon

Roddy Doyle’s The Giggler Treatment

Judy Moody series by Megan McDonald

Clarice Bean Spells Trouble by Lauren Child

Elephant and Piggie books – Mo Willems

Fluent Readers (Age 9+)

Fantasy and Adventure books –
Eoin Colfer
Anthony Horowitz
Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan
Sabriel by Garth Nix
Darren Shan (horror)
Derek Landy (Skulduggery Pleasant)

Funny books –
Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (hilarious and great illustrations)
Holes by Louis Sacher (quirky)

History –
Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
Michelle Paver books – Wolf Brother is the first – stone age adventures
Michael Morpurgo – excellent writer, various books
Marita Conlon McKenna – Famine trilogy

Family and relationship books –
Cathy Cassidy
Jacqueline Wilson
Sarah Webb (me!) Amy Green series (age 10+)
Hilary McKay – Saffy’s Angel, Casson Family stories (good for Judi Curtin fans)
Judi Curtin – Alice and Megan series and Eva series
Wilderness by Roddy Doyle (action adventure blended with family story – excellent)
A Greyhound of a Girl – Roddy Doyle

Award winning time travel/family book – When You Reach Me – Rebecca Stead

The Next Step – 11+

How to Live Forever by Sally Nicholls

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (one of the best teen books of the decade)

Before I Die by Jenny Downham (sad but beautifully written)

If I Stay by Gayle Foreman (sad but gripping – teen girl in a coma)

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher (teen suicide)

Finding Violet Park by Jenny Valentine (quirky and funny)

Skellig by David Almond – beautiful and unusual

Anything by Sarah Dessen – brilliant American writer – family and relationships

Looking for Alaska by John Green – gritty, funny and engrossing – 17 year old male lead – Also Will Grayson, Will Grayson (American edition only) – hilarious!

Twilight by Stephenie Meyers
And urban fantasy – Cassandra Clare

The Hunger Games – Dystopia

Award-winning YA Fiction

Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd

Kate Thompson – Creature of the Night

Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness – Amazing book